Resisting Enforced Disappearance

Documentary

ongoing...

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, an old mother goes to bed leaving the door unlocked, hoping her only son would walk through the door during the night. Since 2009, Bangladeshi security agencies introduced a range of techniques to control social and political movements by modifying police practices into militarized models. According to the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission, between 2009-2022 more than three thousand political activists and protesters have been forcefully disappeared and extrajudicially killed by the security agencies, which produced a massive number of ‘political widows’ and ‘political orphans’. Notably, the women kindred with these persons have resisted from crumbling into the depths of despair in different ways, despite having experienced trauma created by the disappearance of a beloved figure and fueled by threats. Enforced disappearances symbolize insurmountable suffering, as the kin of the disappeared persons wait constantly without closure.Resistance comes in many different shapes and forms. For these women, violent demonstrations or other rebellious gestures are not feasible. However, a careful observation of their day-to-day activities reveal a lot about how they have always been protesting in some way i.e., an old mother leaving the door unlocked hoping for the return of her only son. On the one hand, disappeared person’s family is desperate to believe that the disappeared individual is still alive and eagerly waits for their arrival. The family members are very careful to keep the clothes and other essential items used by the disappeared kin in the same fashion as they would have themselves. Archiving is also a part of their everyday activities in life. In an attempt to preserve proof, the family members of the enforced-disappeared individuals carefully keep the newspaper articles featuring their kin's disappearance. A child who has never known his/her father even draws a painting on the wall about his/her feelings. Through these kinds of activities enforced disappearance of a loved one has shaped and reshaped several chapters of women and children's lives.My project will illuminate the everyday resistance of the political half-widows and orphans, whose dearest husband and fathers have been forcefully disappeared by the security agencies. Drawing on the assemblages of the practices and performances of the political half widows, the project will explore how the political widows in Bangladesh, commonly viewed as deprived of agency, utilize human rights tools to navigate policing and ensure justice.
this project explores the everyday ‘resistance’ of the family members of the victim of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh. Focusing on various everyday activities of the female members of the victim, It highlight how the poor working class peoples, who live at the margins of the state, use the human rights framework as a tool to navigate the state sponsored enforced disappearance. Commonly viewed as women deprived of agency, the working-class population is judged based on their religious affiliation, belonging to the global south, and being shackled within a poor socio economic infrastructure. Not to mention the gender dynamics and lack of easy access to participate in public gatherings. Taking these into account, the project attempts to understand the nuances surrounding their agency.

pattern of the disappeared population's socio-economic background and brings attention to how this working-class population is navigating their everyday struggle. The people living in the state's margin are systematically outcast within the dominant human rights framework in Bangladesh. Even then, they are fighting against state oppression, using the human rights framework as a tool for their survival and search for their disappeared kin. Hence, unearthing the resistance is crucial.